PowerfulVenetianRenaissance Leaders By: Katie Spring
One of the few famous doges of Venice was Enrico Dandolo, the forty-first chief magistrate and leader, or doge, of the MSRV (Most Serene Republic of Venice.) Dandolo was infamous for his role in the Fourth Crusade, in which he said he would help the knights only if they assisted in restoring Zara to Venice’s control. In the end of that battle, Dandolo and the knights of the Fourth Crusade successfully besieged and captured Zara, even Dandolo turned out blind shortly after. Though whether it was the battle that caused the tragedy, or as legend says that in 1171 he was blinded by Byzantines during his embassy there, is not yet (and may never) be wholly determined. After his death, he was remembered for blindness, piety, longevity, and shrewdness.
For Dandolo and his ancestors, a Venetian doge was very powerful, but Francesco Fosari, doge in 1423, and the Council of Ten, or Great Council, put an end to that power. In Fosari’s early to middle era of ruling Venice, he ruled with excessive grandeur, or the quality or condition of being grand, and exercised great power than past doges, and he pursued in the growing of the Western Venetian Civilization. Many in the Council of Ten thought he had too great of power. In order to torment and control the doge, the Council of Ten falsely accused Fosari’s son, Jacopo, and began a long process in which innocent Jacopo was exiled, readmitted, tortured, and exiled again, all the while refusing to allow the doge to resign. After all this, the Council of Ten was satisfied with the fact that they got their point across and forced Fosari to resign. This affirmed the Council of Ten power over their monarch from then on. Doge Leonardo Loredan, Doge of Venice from 1501 to 1521, led Venice’s heroic resistance to the League of Cambria, the nearly complete European coalition established in 1509 to deprive Venice of all her possessions. It’s because of this brave act of justice that his people loved him. Even though he was their ruler first, and, besides the Council of Ten, had near complete control over every aspect of their lives, Loredan’s people adored him. Fifty-six years after Loredan’s reign was over, eighty-one-year-old Sebastiano Venier came to be doge of Venice. He was the Doge of Venice only from June 11, 1577 to March 3, 1578, not even a full year. Venier was one of the protagonists of the Battle of Lepanto Christian League who defeated the Turks. When he returned to Venice, he was popular, and nearly immediately voted Doge. Venier died in 1578, at the age of eighty-two. According to Venetian legend, Venier died of "broken heart" after a fire damaged the doge’s palace. Marco Antonio Sabellico (also known as M. Antonio Sabellico) was called the leader of Venetian writers. It is said that Sabellico made a priest cry to heaven for joy, "When we hereafter attempt great things, Sabellico grant us prosperity! Now we kneel before a poor altar; but if to Thee!" What caused this praise from priest, might one? Well, this praise was because of the dignified flow of his hexameters. One last Venetian leader; Titian, the leader of the sixteenth-century Venetian art schools. Titian was born in Pievedi de Cadore, near Belluno in the Republic of Venice. He also painted Doge Leonardo Loredan in the annual doge outfit.
Powerful Venetian Renaissance
Leaders By: Katie Spring
One of the few famous doges of Venice was Enrico Dandolo, the forty-first chief magistrate and leader, or doge, of the MSRV (Most Serene Republic of Venice.) Dandolo was infamous for his role in the Fourth Crusade, in which he said he would help the knights only if they assisted in restoring Zara to Venice’s control. In the end of that battle, Dandolo and the knights of the Fourth Crusade successfully besieged and captured Zara, even Dandolo turned out blind shortly after. Though whether it was the battle that caused the tragedy, or as legend says that in 1171 he was blinded by Byzantines during his embassy there, is not yet (and may never) be wholly determined. After his death, he was remembered for blindness, piety, longevity, and shrewdness.
For Dandolo and his ancestors, a Venetian doge was very powerful, but Francesco Fosari, doge in 1423, and the Council of Ten, or Great Council, put an end to that power. In Fosari’s early to middle era of ruling Venice, he ruled with excessive grandeur, or the quality or condition of being grand, and exercised great power than past doges, and he pursued in the growing of the Western Venetian Civilization. Many in the Council of Ten thought he had too great of power. In order to torment and control the doge, the Council of Ten falsely accused Fosari’s son, Jacopo, and began a long process in which innocent Jacopo was exiled, readmitted, tortured, and exiled again, all the while refusing to allow the doge to resign. After all this, the Council of Ten was satisfied with the fact that they got their point across and forced Fosari to resign. This affirmed the Council of Ten power over their monarch from then on.
Doge Leonardo Loredan, Doge of Venice from 1501 to 1521, led Venice’s heroic resistance to the League of Cambria, the nearly complete European coalition established in 1509 to deprive Venice of all her possessions. It’s because of this brave act of justice that his people loved him. Even though he was their ruler first, and, besides the Council of Ten, had near complete control over every aspect of their lives, Loredan’s people adored him.
Fifty-six years after Loredan’s reign was over, eighty-one-year-old Sebastiano Venier came to be doge of Venice. He was the Doge of Venice only from June 11, 1577 to March 3, 1578, not even a full year. Venier was one of the protagonists of the Battle of Lepanto Christian League who defeated the Turks. When he returned to Venice, he was popular, and nearly immediately voted Doge. Venier died in 1578, at the age of eighty-two. According to Venetian legend, Venier died of "broken heart" after a fire damaged the doge’s palace.
Marco Antonio Sabellico (also known as M. Antonio Sabellico) was called the leader of Venetian writers. It is said that Sabellico made a priest cry to heaven for joy, "When we hereafter attempt great things, Sabellico grant us prosperity! Now we kneel before a poor altar; but if to Thee!" What caused this praise from priest, might one? Well, this praise was because of the dignified flow of his hexameters.
One last Venetian leader; Titian, the leader of the sixteenth-century Venetian art schools. Titian was born in Pievedi de Cadore, near Belluno in the Republic of Venice. He also painted Doge Leonardo Loredan in the annual doge outfit.